Aftermaths
by MarigoldWolf
Summary: Post HTTYD 2. Erika makes a startling discovery. A friend from the past thought dead is found alive along with some others she never thought she'd get to meet. But an old enemy will soon resurface. Rated T just to be sure.


**Part One- New Discoveries:**

"Whoo, yeah!" Erika whooped as Rainfall zipped through the sky, Ruby close beside. It's been a little over a week since the events with Drago Bludvist. Everything seemed to have gotten back to being peaceful.

Though, it seemed like Erika was staying away from home more and more often than when the dragons started staying. She seemed to make up every excuse in the book to not stay at Berk. It really started worrying everyone close to her.

_No, this isn't the time to be thinking about any of that,_ she thought, shaking her head. "Rainfall, hey. Think I can try something with Ruby while we're up here?"

The Night Fury turned to her rider. _"Wait, you don't mean...Erika, that's dangerous!"_ she said. Though the human didn't exactly understand what the dragon said, she got the jest of it.

"It'll be okay, Rain. I trust Ruby."

"_I won't let her fall into the sea, Rain. I swear,"_ the male Night Fury told his mate.

Rainfall sighed and nodded. _"Okay, I trust both of you."_

"Get ready, Ruby. On three." The Night Fury nodded. "One...two...three!" At the 'three,' Ruby spread his wings as if to halt his flight and Erika stood on Rainfall's back before jumping backwards.

She was free-falling for a few seconds before Ruby caught her just a few feet away from the water. He flew back up to where Rainfall was as Erika climbed onto his back. "See? What'd I tell ya? Ruby's getting better at trusting me!"

The female Night Fury gave Ruby an amused looked. _"Weren't you the one who was so adamant of NOT letting her ride you?"_ she said.

"_What can I say? She started to grow on me,"_ Ruby retorted, giving a smile with his gums.

They soon came to an island to rest at. Once Erika dismounted, Rainfall tackled her down into the sand. "Ah! Rainfall, stop!" she laughed as the Night Fury licked her.

Ruby made a laughing sound as Erika pushed Rainfall off of her and stood up. "Well, now I'm going to be covered in dragon drool when we get back. Thanks."

Both Night Furies gave quick grins when suddenly they tensed up, pupils narrowing. Erika was confused. "What is it? Do you two sense something?"

The two started growling, getting into defensive positions. _"You smell it too, right?"_ Rainfall asked.

"_Hard to miss,"_ Ruby replied.

"Seriously, guys. You're starting to scare-" She got no further as something came out of the sky and snatched her up.

"_Erika!"_ Rainfall and Ruby were about to take off as well but more somethings jumped on their backs, knocking their jaws hard into the sand. Then a hard blow to the back of their heads sent them out cold.

Rainfall was the first to wake up. She groaned as she felt a headache coming. _Argh...my head. Did I crash into a rock again?_ She thought, sitting up and placing a paw on her head. That's when it hit her. _Oh gods...Erika!_

"_Ruby! Ruby, wake up!"_ she roared, shaking the male Night Fury. The lame legged Night Fury blinked his eyes open before shaking his head.

"_H...Huh? Wha..?"_

"_Ruby, Erika is gone! Something must have taken her!"_ That got him out of his grogginess.

He immediately got onto his paws. _"You head back to Berk and get Hiccup and Toothless out here."_

"_But-"_

"_I'll go and find Erika. With luck, I'll get her back before you come back. Just trust me!"_ He took to the skies.

"_Be careful,"_ Rainfall whispered, flying off in the direction of Berk.

Erika murmured a little, opening her eyes. _A cave? Wait, how'd I get here? I was on a beach not too long ago!_ she thought, sitting up and rubbing her head. _Well, now I know how Rainfall felt when she hit that rock wall..._

She then heard a Night Fury roar. "Rainfall? Ruby? Okay, real funny, guys," she said as she stood up. "...guys?"

Two pairs of eyes appeared in the dark of one of the entrances. Soon, two unknown Night Furies came out. But they looked like elderly dragons.

Erika gulped. "H...Hello." The bigger of the two came right up close and started sniffing her. "Uhh...I think we have a bit of a misunderstanding here. We didn't know this was your place, so..."

The Night Fury then caught of the chain hanging out of a pouch on her belt. Its eyes widened and it grabbed it. "Hey! That's mi-" She got cut off when a growl came from the other dragon.

The Night Fury that had pulled out the chain sat on its haunches, studying the medallion attached. The medallion had Erika's name etched onto it. Its eyes widened and turned to the other Night Fury, giving a short roar. The other nodded and ran off through the entrance they used.

_Eh?_ "Um, can I have my medallion back?" The Night Fury turned to her. "...please..?"

With a snort, the Night Fury threw it back to her. She caught it with ease. "Thanks."

Just as she put the medallion back into its pouch, human voices echoed from the entrance the other dragon ran through. "Silverstorm, is something wrong? Rosewind seemed-" Two people walked in. Their faces turned to shock once they saw Erika. "-urgent..."

"Uh...hi. I think there was a bit of a misunderstanding with your dragons and mine. I think. It seemed a bit strange I got taken here."

The woman walked up. "Erika?"

"Err...yes, that would be my name, according to the medallion found with me." She pulled it back out.

"Could it be..?"

"It has to be," the man replied. "Silverstorm and Rosewind seem to remember the medallion."

"Hello! Kinda lost here and would like some answers."

Both of them turned to Erika, including the Night Furies. "You were raised on Berk, right?"

"Well, yeah, of course. Pretty sure I was born there too, but nothing can be proven since I had been found as a baby, so..." Then it clicked in her head. "No way."

The man chuckled. "Hello, Erika. We're your parents."

Erika blinked slowly, trying to process it all, before her eyes rolled up and she fainted.

"_...Well, that went better than expected,"_ Silverstorm warbled.

"_Toothless! Toothless! TOOTHLESS!"_ Rainfall roared as soon as she touched the ground.

"_Rainfall, calm down! What's the matter?"_ Toothless asked calmly.

"_Okay, you know how Erika went flying with me and Ruby since she's been acting so weird?"_

"_Kinda hard to miss...wait, where are Ruby and Erika?"_

"_Erm...that's the thing..."_

Right after she explained what had happened, both her and Toothless rushed to find Hiccup. _"HICCUP!"_ both roared.

"Whoa! Toothless, Rainfall. What's the matter?" Hiccup asked once the Night Furies found him. "Wait a minute...where's Erika and Ruby?"

Rainfall made a whining sound. _"T...That's the problem..."_

"Oh no..."

"Ah! That's cold!" Erika yelped, sitting right up as the water hit her. "Whoo...Ruby, Rainfall. You guys aren't going to believe this-" She stopped when she realized she wasn't at the beach. "It...wasn't a dream, was it."

A snort came from behind her. _"Pass out again and you'll be covered in fish,"_ Rosewind growled lightly.

"_No need to scare the girl anymore than she is,"_ Silverstorm reminded.

"_Hmph."_

"Excuse Rosewind. She tends to be a bit grumpy," the man said.

"Right, I'm used to it. So, uh...you guys are my parents...why did you..?"

"Give you up? A bit hard to say, really. I guess we figured you'd have a better life in Berk than out in the middle of nowhere," the woman replied.

"Oh, I see. Um...what are your names and how many other Night Furies are here?"

"My name's Haldor and my wife's Alexandra. As for the Night Furies...the only ones left of this little colony are Silverstorm and Rosewind. Save for a few hatchlings."

"Hatchlings?" Erika heard the squawks. "Oh no.." She then got tackled down by some little Night Furies. "Ahh! Don't I have enough to deal with with Ruby and Rainfall's babies?!"

Haldor and Alexandra laughed as Erika managed to shoo the babies off of her. Save for one on her head. She plucked it off, making it give her the big eyes. "Yeah, sorry. I'm immune to those now." She set it on the ground to let it catch up with the others. "You take care of those by yourselves?"

"Well, Silverstorm and Rosewind do most of the work with us," Alexandra explained. "But we've gotten an extra pair of hands to help with that in the recent few years."

_Extra pair of hands? What does that-_ Erika's thoughts are cut off as a voice came from the tunnel the Night Fury babies ran out of.

"Haldor, Alexandra. I'm afraid the hatchlings had-" the young man that walked out started until he saw Erika. "Erika?"

"Tomas?!" Erika jumped to her feet once she recognized him. Astrid's older brother who disappeared three years ago...was standing right in front of her!

"_By the gods, I swear if she passes out again-"_ Rosewind started when suddenly Erika tackled Tomas and got him in a choke-hold.

"Three years! You've been gone for three years and this is where you've been?!"

"I...can...explain!" The last word from Tomas came out in a squeak.

"_Never mind, I like her."_

Silverstorm covered his face with a paw. _"Of course you would..."_

After a while, Erika released Tomas. He took in deep breaths, rubbing his neck. "Thor Almighty, did you take lessons from Astrid?"

He was surprised once again when she threw her arms around him, this time in a hug and not a choke-hold. "I really missed you..."

This got him a bit flustered. "Ah, I-I missed you too, Eri..."

Alexandra chuckled before whispering to Haldor, "I think it'd be best to leave now."

"Good idea. Silverstorm, Rosewind. Let's round up the little ones and get them to bed."

"_Ack, those little terrors are the worst things to deal with,"_ Rosewind groaned as they walked down where the hatchlings went.

"_You weren't saying that when they hatched,"_ Silverstorm snickered. Then he got a whap from Rosewind's tail. _"Ouch!"_

Erika pulled away first. "But...why didn't you come back to Berk? Was that fight between you and Astrid _that_ bad?"

"Well, it's...a bit hard to explain. I think it'd be better to show ya." With that, Tomas grabbed Erika's hand and lead her down the tunnel he came in from.

"Wait wait! Where does this tunnel go?!"

"You'll see!"

The tunnel was quite dark, making Erika wish she had night vision or even Rainfall to help her way through here. But it seemed Tomas knew his way through even with the darkness. Soon, it came to a bit of an incline leading up to the light.

"Careful, it's a bit steep," Tomas said, helping Erika get up the incline.

"By Odin's beard, where are you.." Erika then saw the area around. It was another dragon sanctuary. "..taking me...oh wow..."

"I know, right? It's hidden away pretty well due to the rock walls around it. About the only way in is flying over the walls or through the tunnels. But the tunnels are a bit tricky to navigate if you don't know where you're going."

"This is just...awesome! There's got to be more out there like this just not known by others. But..." Erika looked around, noticing how much this one differed from the sanctuary Valka had protected. "Why isn't there so many dragons?"

Tomas scratched the back of his head. "That's the thing. It seems to be a sanctuary for dragons who are infirm or old. Though, most of them don't usually make it here in time."

"Oh. Um, if you don't mind me asking...where's your Deadly Nadder Stonejab?"

He sighed. "I think it'd be easier to show you rather than tell you."

Erika got a confused look on her face but followed Tomas nevertheless. While walking through the vegetation, she started seeing some of the residents. They were indeed old dragons or dragons with a disability. _A lot like Toothless...though, I guess he probably wouldn't have been able to make it here,_ she thought as they walked.

They soon came to a cave on the rock wall. "Uhh..." Erika looked up to see a few more but at a flying reach. "Wouldn't those up there be better?"

"You'll see."

Right as Erika barely set foot, a Deadly Nadder jumped out, screeching. She yelped, stepping back.

"Whoa whoa! It's okay, girl. She's a friend," Tomas said, patting the Nadder's head. "Sorry about Jewel. She's, uh, a bit defensive."

"I can tell."

Tomas patted Jewel's head and then turned to the entrance of the cave. "Okay, time to come out, pal."

Soon enough, the more familiar Deadly Nadder stepped out. One of his wings was wrapped up close to his body with vines. "Stonejab! It's so good to see you!" Erika jumped, managing to hug the dragon's snout. He let out a happy growl. She let go and looked at the wrapped up wing. "What's wrong with..?"

"He got struck by lightning with that wing," Tomas sighed, walking up and untying the vines. Stonejab's wing flopped limply onto the ground. "He can't feel or move his wing at all. In other words-"

"-he can't fly," Erika finished.

"Yeah. That's why I didn't come back. I couldn't leave Stonejab behind like this! Not when he had risked almost drowning to keep me alive."

Erika had a concerned look on her face...which broke right as a Night Fury roar was heard. Stonejab and Jewel perked their heads up at the noise too.

"That didn't sound like Silverstorm or Rosewind...or even Rainfall," Tomas said, confused.

"I have an idea of who it is."

Suddenly, Ruby burst out of the trees, teeth bared and roaring angrily. Stonejab, seeing the danger, got onto the defense. Both growled at each other, sizing each other up, until Erika decided to break them up.

"Ruby, stop!" she said, trying to pull the Night Fury away.

"You found _another_ Night Fury?" Tomas asked in awe. Ruby snarled at him when he got too close.

"Whoa whoa, easy. He's a friend. And yeah, or more like Rainfall 'accidentally' found him after finding his egg."

"Egg?"

"Really long story." Erika flicked Ruby on the head, making the dragon lose his snarl and shake his head.

"_Jeez, that hurt!"_ Ruby grumbled.

"That's for almost attacking Tomas and Stonejab."

"I'm guessing he came around after my disappearance, huh?"

"Yeah. About a year after, actually. Spent the last two trying to get him to like me. 'Course, it took the whole debacle with Drago Bludvist to get it."

"Who?"

"Maniac, tried to take all the dragons and destroy Berk. We found out that Ruby couldn't be controlled by the Alpha Dragon command. Valka said that was a result of his egg being dropped."

"Huh." Tomas then noticed the limp on the right back leg. "That too?"

"Yeah. Heh, almost thought he was going to blow me up when Rainfall had me try to find what the problem was with it. He's also a bit sensitive about it. So you might want to quit staring."

Tomas noticed the Night Fury glaring a bit. "Right." He looked at Ruby's head. "Still, he looks quite a bit different than Toothless and Rainfall. Scales and fins."

"And you said you wouldn't be interested in doing the research."

"I blame you." Erika hit him behind the head. "Ow!"

The three dragons made laughing sounds. Then Ruby remembered something. _Ohh boy..._ He grabbed Erika's hand with his teeth retracted, pulling her.

"What is it, Ruby? Wait a minute...uh-oh."

"Something wrong?"

"Well...unless you want to be found out and be heading back to Berk right now..."

"Oh...oh!"

"Ruby, let's hurry. We better explain things to Hiccup and Rainfall before-"

"Wait! Can you leave me out of it? I'm...not exactly ready to head back just yet."

"Okay, you have my word. Now, let's hurry, Ruby!" Erika jumped onto Ruby's back and the Night Fury took off.

While racing through the air, Ruby glanced up briefly at the female Viking on his back. She caught the look. "What?"

"_Oh, I don't know. Mind telling me who that guy was and why you weren't completely panicking?"_ he warbled.

"Look, I'd rather not discuss this right now when it's very possible Hiccup and the others could pop out of the clouds at any- WAH!" Erika had to grip onto Ruby's neck for dear life as Rainfall had tackled right into him while in the air.

"_Ruby! You found her!"_ Rainfall chirped happily.

"_Yeah, and she's got quite a bit of explaining to do to the both of us."_

"Rainfall, I don't want to ruin the moment, but I'm kinda not on a saddle with Ruby," Erika squeaked.

"_Oops..."_ Rainfall let Ruby go, flapping away a bit.

"Erika!" a voice yelled. She looked to see both Hiccup and Astrid flying up on their dragons. "There you are!"

"Where were you? Rainfall came back alone, looking frantic," Astrid added.

"Uhh...well, funny story." The looks on the other two riders told her they didn't find it so. "Eheh...ahem. Okay, so, we landed on small beach and then another dragon swooped in and took off with me-"

"WHAT?!"

"Ow ow! I'm not done yet, guys! Ruby here chased after it and rescued me. Right?"

"_Uhh...yep! Sure did!"_ Ruby replied with a gummy smile.

"_Wait...but didn't we-"_ Rainfall started.

"_I'll tell ya later when Erika decides to give me a proper explanation for a certain situation,"_ Ruby whispered quickly to his mate.

Hiccup sighed. "Alright, let's just get back before anything else goes wrong."

The small group started flying back towards Berk. Erika took a glance back behind where she and Ruby had come from. _I've got to find a way to get Stonejab back to flying and Tomas back to Berk,_ she thought as she returned her attention forward.


End file.
